In a late-night development‚ ex-defense minister Kim Yong-hyun got arrested by Seoul prosecutors (around 1:30am local-time) over his part in this weeks martial-law crisis
The political storm started when president Yoon Suk Yeol made a short-lived attempt to give military wide-ranging powers: this move didnt last more than 6 hours. Parliament members broke through police-lines to vote against this decree‚ showing a rare moment of cross-party unity
Ruling party chief Han Dong-hoon made it clear - Yoon will step back from his role (even though he survived saturdays impeachment vote). Han plans to work with prime-minister Han Duck-soo to keep things running
Three smaller opposition groups filed legal papers against the president and his top-officials including:
- Claims of trying to start an uprising
- Using army to block parliament work
- Breaking constitutional rules
Police teams searched Kims office while investigators look into these serious charges; if found guilty people involved could face life-time jail terms. Park An-su‚ who was picked as martial-law commander is also under investigation
In his tv-speech yesterday Yoon said sorry for his actions and agreed to take responsibility - but he didnt quit right away. The ruling party took this as a sign that heʼll leave office soon; for now theyʼre working with the prime-minister to manage day-to-day government work